The south is pretty modern all things considered. You wanna see real pain? Go ask Chinese people who had to sacrifice these past few decades to make China the powerhouse it is today. Its the reason why they can tolerate anything the US throws at them. Their pain threshold is much higher than whatever the west has.
These southerners could have lost their culture, the local industry has long since left, and fentanyl is the name of the game. Yet thats still nothing compared to what Chinese (or even Russian people post USSR) had to go through.
I'm a southerner, and I road trip a lot. Driving through parts of the southeast you will pass through a sea of dilapidated trailers with yards full of junk, run down chain restaurants and industrial lots. It's not India or the Philippines, but it's still pretty third world in a lot of ways.
Of course its third world in some ways, but take those Chinese people I spoke about, swap them into the same spot as the people currently living there and I GUARANTEE you that they will turn those places around and probably make a whole super competitive region that could go toe to toe with any of the urban areas of the country.
It goes back to my point. These people in those areas think they are in for bad times but they have not seen REAL pain yet and yet they are playing games right now because they think they have nothing to lose.
Imagine if your theory comes true and the government has to cut services to the bone. No more medicare/medicaid/maintaining their infrastructure(however shit it is now it gets worse)/state subsidies for states like Nebraska.
There are probably horrors that im not even thinking of.
These southerners could have lost their culture, the local industry has long since left, and fentanyl is the name of the game. Yet thats still nothing compared to what Chinese (or even Russian people post USSR) had to go through.